by Bri Stone
I don’t get over our naked bodies moving together, her soft body responding to mine. My lips go down her jaw, over her clavicle to the valley of her breasts. I caress one, teasing her nipple between my fingers as my mouth closes around the other; my teeth graze her nipple and then I suckle it, responding a moan from her she tries to stifle. I move and do the same to the other before I continue down her body, over her slightly round belly and the dip of her hips.
“Pete,” she muffles as my lips haze over her pulsing sex. I inhale her hot scent, as I glide my tongue between her throbbing folds, to her clit.
I close my mouth over her, and she traps my head between her thighs as I divulge further into her. I grip her thighs and drag one hand up her body to her breast as my tongue drives her into a frenzy. Her hand comes down over mine, her back rising off the bed. Her sighs are deep, hiding her moans as she climbs higher. Her body throbs, I know every tell of it by now. By the break in her moan and drive of her hips into me, she comes seconds later. My lips stay latched to her, riding out the throb of her clit as she clenches.
“Whoa Pete…” she breathes.
I kiss back up her body, wiping the moisture from my lips before I kiss her. I smile when I pull back, she smiles back at me. The glow of her orgasm in her eyes, her cheeks rosy, smile bright under the dim lights of my lamp.
Her hand glides down my front, the heat of her fingers close around my cock and I nearly buckle over her, my spine sings with the desire that I can feel everywhere. Her touch is magnetic, electrifying. She shimmies down the bed, my cock tips at her pulsing entrance. Our breath mingles, my lips hovering over hers.
“I love you,” I tell her every time, and I never get tired of doing it.
Her lips twitch with a smile, I kiss the corner of her mouth and then her lips as I sink inside of her.
Our lips glide over each other, as my cock reaches deep inside her.
Her moans lock against my lips, her tongue dancing with mine as I kiss her deeper, press harder into her.
My cock twitches as she clenches around me. I trace my hands up her body; her fleshy thighs and hips, her waist, her breasts. I pinch her nipples and she jerks towards me more, her hips meet every one of my thrusts. I try hard not to drive into her too hard, so the bed doesn’t rock the wall. It proves impossible.
Our lips break the kiss but stay against each other as I lift her hips up to keep her body off the bed as I drive into her.
When we are together like this, I just disappear inside of her.
Around her.
We exist together in the most beautiful way, the way she loves me silently and I remind her with every breath. It’s incredible, I had no idea I was capable of this before I met her.
But I am. And it’s all I want to do.
Melinda holds me tight, her arms up around my back, nails raking into me as we climb higher together. I rub her clit with every thrust, my free hand roaming over her body as if to memorize her. I probably already have.
“Oh god—Pete…” she moans, her breath caught in her increasing moans.
I groan deep in my chest, right behind her when she goes slack with another orgasm. It snatches her right up and takes me with her.
She shudders, her body taking over before she goes slack under me and I drive through my last thrust before my orgasm takes over my whole body as I empty myself inside her. I hold her tight, kiss her hard as we come down together. I slip out of her and she moans one last time against the kiss before we break away.
I roll off her, tug her over my chest as we calm our breathing. My fingers trail her arm, over her shoulder.
Her cheek is warm on my chest, her hair tickling my chin.
“It’s always… so good.” she sighs.
“Yeah, it is.” I kiss her forehead.
She turns up to me and I kiss her lips. She pulls back, staring down at me as she licks her lips.
“I want to tell you something.” she sighs.
I sit up, “Yeah?”
She nods slowly, apprehension in her eyes. I pull back and wait, still holding her.
She blinks more, I don’t press her though. Her hand splays over my chest as she leans into me, I try not to be distracted by her breasts pressed into my arm, or the rest of her on my body. I manage, getting lost in the beauty of her eyes instead.
“I had parents, and then I didn’t. I grew up in foster care, and I changed schools a lot. So, I homeschooled myself until I went to college early.” She rolls her shoulders back like it took the tension off a little.
I’ve watched her chip away a little bit. In the time we’ve been together, she has softened around the edges, but not enough to compromise her true strength.
“Do you remember them?” I ask her, and she knows I’m asking about her parents.
“Yes.” She chews on her lip. I use my thumb to pull it from her teeth and smile at her.
“I’m sorry.”
She half rolls her eyes and lays back on my chest so I can’t see her face.
“It’s fine. I just wanted to tell you.” She hugs me around my waist, her arms tighten around me.
“Thank you,” I say, and I mean it.
We lay like that for a while until we get back to kissing, just kissing for a while. And then I can’t keep my hands off her and can barely keep her quiet, but I manage it.
For almost the whole night, we manage it.
PETE
* * *
Mom gave me something before I left. A huge sit-down talk, something that I will probably never forget. One of the things that I might tell my kids one day, when I tell them about their grandmother. I memorized every word, and it burns a hole in my pocket until I hide it away in my drawer. Melinda doesn’t go through my things, if she comes over, she usually just climbs into bed and goes to sleep or eats my fridge out.
“Where are the corn dogs?” Daniel scratches his ass over his boxers as he leans down in the freezer.
I laugh from the kitchen island where I lean to drink my chocolate protein shake.
“Uh, Melinda ate them.” I take a gulp.
“What?” he groans and stands up, looking over in the fridge instead. “She eats all my favorite food. And you let her.” he sounds more irritating, where I hear him talk and can’t hear his voice.
He shuts the fridge and walks over just to frown at me over the counter. I look at him and laugh, he actually seems hurt.
“Yeah, I let her because she’s my girlfriend.”
He mimes mimicking me.
“I’ll replace it when I go to the store tonight.” I guzzle down the rest of my drink and lean over to drop it in the sink just behind the counter.
“Chocolate your favorite flavor?” he raises his brow with the double meaning.
I flip him off and he just laughs. Jim is in the living room, probably not wanting to even engage in the conversation. Daniel picks at the angry red flesh on his chest, he got sunburnt at practice the other day and has been walking around shirtless ever since.
“Put some aloe on that.” I advise him. I go around him to the fridge and then the pantry to survey what we need.
“It will fix itself. You have class?” he asks.
“Nope.” It’s Tuesday, three weeks after the spring semester started and I only have class on Monday Wednesday and Friday. It’s the life.
“Asshole. I’m leaving in ten.” He grumbles. He has talked about much he hates his ten am finance class. I would too, it’s a 4000-level course.
I laugh when he stomps off to leave. Jim yells something at the television, I’m guessing it’s a game he is playing. I pick Melinda up every Tuesday from her lab at the biology building, but I have an hour until then. My days merge together because my classes are easy and I only have conditioning twice a week. I have a lot of free time. I wish Melinda had more too, but she is so focused on getting to med school. The admissions decisions come in March, and then she has to keep her GPA up so she can get more grant money to pay for school. My scout already told
my I’ll be a first-round pick—sports politics has shorts cuts—with my signing bonus I could easily help her with anything she needs but she doesn’t want my money, and so I have to respect that. It’d be completely different if we were married though. Just a thought.
“Here, is this enough?” Daniel comes back down the stairs in his blue hoodie and jeans, scratching at his neck with sun burn peeking through. That’s Texas, even in January.
“Yeah.” I take the hundred-dollar bill from him and stuff it in my wallet. We all pitch in the same amount, that’s how much groceries cost. And we take turns.
“See you. Don’t forget my corn dogs!” he shouts from behind the foyer as he rushes out, the slam of the door behind him.
I laugh and go up to my room to get dressed. I smile at one of Melinda’s hair scarves tucked under my pillow, I pull it out and the scent climbs up to my nose. She rushed out of here this morning, she overslept but blamed me. And what we were up doing all night. The weather is cooler now, I opt for one of the sweaters my mom got me for Christmas, this itchy black wool that hugs at my body, Melinda says she likes it, so I wear it. And jeans, one of the only four pairs I have that can fit.
When I head back down stairs, I find Jim right where I left him. Sans shirt laying on the couch with his boxers not doing their job.
“Grocery money.” I block his view of the television and hold out my hand.
He frowns up at me and I laugh, he’s been having a hard time with classes and his parents bothering him about jobs after graduation. It’s football, or the family business. He doesn’t want to do either. Jim fishes his wallet out of his jeans and hands me enough bills to make a hundred. Every other Tuesday is grocery day so we always have the cash on hand, otherwise we aren’t just walking around with this much cash. Daniel might though.
“Thanks. Any requests?”
He shrugs, “The usual.”
I’m about to walk away before I change my mind and sit on the coffee table in front of him.
He furrows his dark brows at me, his eyes sharpening.
“What’s up with you?” I ask him.
“Nothing. Growing pains.” He taps the remote on his knee. I glance at the crime show he has playing, I guess he gave up on the game.
“What?” I laugh once.
“Nothing. My parents are being assholes, just bothering me about what to do after graduation.”
“Forget about them. You can stay here, or at the farm, we’ll find work for you.” I joke.
“Right, that’s a good plan.”
“Or go to the draft, take the money. You’re one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Twelve.”
He smiles, “I know, but football was to pay for college, not make a life of it.”
“I don’t like it that much either, but I’m good at it. And I can help my family.” The farm does well, my parents are fine. But I want to help with the mortgage bills, we own the house but not all of the land. I can drop a lump sum on it and then it’s ours, the farm proceedings will all be ours and dad can expand like he always wanted to.
“Yeah, you’re a good guy like that Pete. Me? I don’t care much for my parents or their nepotism. I just have to figure out what I want to do.” He shrugs and looks away from me, effectively ending the conversation.
“Alright. See you.” I punch his shoulder and grin before I get up and leave.
It bought me enough time, so I just wait the fifteen minutes for Melinda to get out, outside of the biology building. I get out and lean on the passenger door where I am parked, in the same place as always. The sun is out, not too hard on the eyes since it’s pretty chilly out, it smells like Baylor. My last semester here, and I don’t know where I’ll be going when it’s over. Of course, I want the best team but I could go anywhere, preferably somewhere near Melinda. That conversation always stings the air when it comes around. Her going to medical school, at the best school there is, would be the first priority. I’m aware, that I have compromised the most, enough for the both of us, but this is important. I love her, and I won’t keep her from her dream. Even if it doesn’t include—
Melinda is late, it makes me worry. I wait a few more minutes and spot her finally coming out. I smile, taking her in.
She’s got on this cute gray cropped hoodie, her tights come up and cover her little belly. She insists I put weight on her since we started dating, but I don’t notice or care, I love the extra around her hips and thighs. But she started going on runs with me sometimes, though it always turns into me carrying her around, lifting her like a weight.
Melinda skips down the steps and comes my way, her curly hair whipping behind her in the wind.
“Hey sweetness, what took so long?” I wrap her up in my arms, I saw her a few hours ago but I squeeze her like it’s been days. Her sweet scent floods my nose, I run it across her cheek before I kiss her properly. Quickly swiping my tongue over hers, I squeeze her ass and she squeals against me.
“Pete, there are cameras out here.” She giggles, pushing away from me.
I laugh and step aside to open her door, watching her pert ass as she climbs in the truck.
“There are no cameras.”
She straps herself in and I smirk at her before I jog around the other side. Once in the car, I drive off.
“I have to go to the store, the guys aren’t too happy about you eating all their food,” I laugh.
“Oh, sorry,” She says, not sorry at all.
I grin at her cuteness and merge on the highway, Sam’s Club is the only place equipped to stock our house.
“My lease is ending soon, so I’ve been keeping the fridge empty.”
“What? Where are you going to go?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I might move on campus, or some other place. Rent was cheap there but it’s far.” She tries to talk through a yawn as she shifts through her bag.
Until we get to the store, and she silently walks beside me as I stick to the mental list.
“Hey, you like sleeping over, don’t you?” I stop in the cereal aisle. A mom with three screaming kids walks by and Melinda makes a face.
“What do you mean? Are you talking about sex?”
I laugh from my gut, “No.” I tower over her, stepping closer. Her chest presses on mine and I stare down in her brown eyes.
“Why don’t you move in?” I lick my lips, holding back a laugh as she gapes. Makes her cute little surprised face and her lips fly open.
“I… really?”
“Yeah. You stay over sometimes anyway. We can take that next step, right?”
“Well I—we can. I didn’t know you were thinking about that.”
“It crossed my mind. But until you said your lease was out I didn’t know to ask.”
“Oh. But your friends, will they agree with this? I mean, it’s their house.”
I laugh and trace her cheek with my thumb. She leans into me before I drop my hand, resting it on the rack above her head.
“Look you can pay rent if you want, but you don’t have to. And they won’t mind, it’s not like we’ll cross paths. And they love having you there.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, even when you eat their food.”
She grins, bites her lip before her tongue darts out to moisten her lips.
“Okay… I’ll move in with you, then.” She smiles. I smile back and kiss her.
“Good. You can start pitching in on groceries now.”
Melinda basically spent the last of her lease at my place anyway. I helped her move all her stuff, only to find out she wasn’t attached to much other than her clothes and hair products, but I still help her put it in storage. I try and fail, for her to leave the pink bed sheets behind, but we compromise with just the sheets, and I keep my comforter, so the guys don’t poke too much fun at my expense. We cook together—well I cook and she watches—and we study together, watch television, hang with the guys, it’s all great. But the best part really is waking up to her every morning, holding her in my ar
ms as we fall asleep. Daniel thinks it’s funny to blow up my phone every time he might hear Melinda and I having sex. So, I put the phone on silent, and it’s not my fault she can’t keep quiet. Or I guess it technically is.
It’s like perfection, for the next few weeks. Melinda tells me stuff about her growing up in school, some of her foster parents that she liked. But nothing that’s more than surface deep, and I get it. That kind of upbringing isn’t easy and I can’t pretend to understand. I can only listen. And I do.
I still wait for the day, that I tell her I love her and she says it back, verbally. I want to hear those words cloaked in her beautiful voice more than anything, but I can’t force her to, I can barely encourage it. I can only be me, be myself, accept her how she is.
February is mostly spent back and forth in the combine, leading up to Draft Day. I don’t like being away from her but it isn’t for that long, it just feels a bit like Murphy’s Law for a while. I ask the guys to look after her, but she lives in the library working up to midterms. And then I’m back, the routine is back. I miss her more when I am here.
We get through midterms, she manages not to pull her hair out. We agreed to wait and open her admissions letters, until after the draft. Then we can unilaterally decide, we don’t want to be apart. At any point, in any way. It isn’t about what’s the best team for me, Melinda is best for me. I’m a better player because I’m a better man with her. Nothing will make me happier than to see her become a doctor, a surgeon, and I’ll be right there with her.
So, this was all fine in theory until April comes, the weekend of the draft. It’s official, one month until graduation, twenty-four hours until my draft, until Melinda picks her school.
The rest of us starts now.
PETE
* * *
“We agreed to this, no turning back now.”